Stories for August 2017

Efforts to phase out the old £1 coin are being hampered by companies who are returning the new 12-sided replacement by mistake. The old round pound ceases to be legal tender on 15 October, with a billion taken out of circulation already. But the removal process is being slowed down because about half of the £1 coins sent back are actually the new style, cash management company Vaultex says.

The chief executive officer of Argentina’s state-owned oil company YPF has resigned and a six-member executive committee will run the company. The company did not name a replacement for CEO Ricardo Darre, who had held the job since July of last year. Darre, an engineer, had previously worked for French oil company Total in the United States.

The United Nations Security Council will meet late Tuesday to discuss the latest North Korea missile launch. North Korea fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan early Tuesday local time, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered his country's military on Tuesday to display its capabilities that can overwhelm North Korea should the communist state decide to attack, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.

The UK has been told by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator that it needs to take withdrawal talks “seriously”. Michel Barnier used the opening of a third round of talks in Brussels on Monday to insist that London must end “ambiguity” regarding key positions like the Brexit divorce bill.

Labour would keep the UK in the EU single market and customs union for a transitional period after leaving the EU, the party has said. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer clarified Labor's position on leaving the EU in The Observer.

Brexit Secretary David Davis is heading for a Brussels showdown, with a demand for the European Commission to be more “flexible” in negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. With the third round of formal talks beginning on Bank Holiday Monday in the Belgian capital, Davis is pushing for EU negotiator Michel Barnier to be less rigid in his refusal to discuss the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and Europe.

Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has given a cautious welcome to a change of emphasis from Labour on Brexit, which has said it would advocate the UK remaining within the EU's single market and the customs union for a transitional period.

Famous names including Sir David Attenborough, Bill Oddie, Chris Packham, Simon King and Nigel Marvin were all attendees of Birdfair where Falklands organizations annually promote the wealth of wildlife around the Islands.

The Financial Times is reporting that Premier Oil is negotiating with the UK government about securing export finance to fund just over half of the US$1.5bn investment needed to develop a large oilfield in waters north of the Falkland Islands. If all works out as planned first oil in the Falklands would be in 2021.